At the Tweed Angling Fair in
Kelso, Scotland, Gordon Armstrong set the new world record of 73.33-yards! What an amazing
achievement. The competition was held on the famous Junction Pool of the River
Tweed at Kelso. The casting competition was held on Sunday May 6. There was a great buzz about the casting competition, as the weather in some instances was horrendous
with strong, gusting winds. The results:

George Cook
"Our Sage, Simms, Ross, Tibor rep" brings his vast reservoir of fly angling
knowledge to the Oregon Fly Fishing Festival.
George Cook is the guy in the Sage "Tight Loops" poster of the 1990's. He
taught the "Sage Fly Fishing Schools" in the 1980's and has great casting
and communication skills.
He is pictured at right with a
fine
fly-caught Alaskan King Salmon.

To see and hear:
George Cook. Check out this video shot by Fish & Fly Magazine at The
Sandy River Spey Clave.

This will give you an idea of the expertise that you
will be offered free of charge at the Oregon Fly Fishing Festival.

Forceps are lightweight, self-locking pliers that are used
in the surgical profession for holding needles, stopping the flow of blood
and many other delicate operations. Forceps are used by anglers to remove
hooks, to tie knots and generally to help hold onto small, delicate, sharp
objects. A small fly is often easier to tie to a leader if it is held
firmly in a forceps. Dr. Slick supplies the best made,

Dr. Slick Features
Each Dr. Slick tool on this page is precisely constructed from high grade
stainless steel. The tools are made in Pakistan, a country long known for
its ability in working metals. These tools are the best available of
their kind at the prices listed. Each forceps comes with a strong, smooth
operating boxed hinge for maximum strength. Each forceps also comes with
a strong, sharply pointed needle enclosed within the limbs of the tool
where it is most effective for cleaning head cement from the eyes of
flies. Every model also has large comfortable smoothly polished finger
loops.

This high quality, smooth operating forceps is made from
satin finished stainless steel. It is built with large gold finger loops
and fits medium to large size hands. The stiff limbed design affords a
powerful grip. Jaws are smooth at front 1/2 and serrated at rear 1/2. The
smooth points tends not to damage small hooks, while serrated rear
one-half of the jaw holds larger hooks tenaciously. Many experienced
anglers feel that the

popular curved point configuration provides a more secure
grip than straight points. If you only have one forceps to help with most
kinds of fly fishing, it could very well be this one.

The Difference In
PointsThe Curved Points Forceps (pictured above) and the Spring Creek
Forceps ( pictured below) will overlap in tasks preformed, but are
designed for slightly different tasks. Both are shown with a #18 mayfly
spinner. The Curved Points Forceps performs the task of holding the fly,
but is a little bulky. The Spring Creek Forceps holds #14-#24 flies. The
Curved Point Forceps works best with hook sizes #16-#2. The jaws of the
Curved Point Forceps is part smooth and part heavily serrated to provide a
very strong grip. The Spring Creek Forceps has smooth jaws so it is
gentle with tiny, delicate hook points. Both tools come with a hook-eye
cleaning needle.

This Dr. Slick Forceps features a design for full size
hands, but with slightly softer limbs and slightly finer point for
handling smaller flies. It is called the Spring Creek model, because that
is what it is designed for; fishing trout with small flies. Jaws are
smooth. The smooth points tend not to damage small hooks, while serrated
rear one-half of the jaw holds larger hooks tenaciously. Also is very
handy tool around the

fly tying bench for performing a variety of tasks, such as
grasping wire, or even picking up hooks.

Designed for mashing hook barbs and also for removing
hooks from fish. It will grasp hooks as large as #2/0, and will mash barbs
on hook sizes #2 - #20. The short stiff limbs and short smooth jaws give
a powerful controlled bite to mash barbs flat, but seldom breaks hook
points. Stainless steel construction assures durability and large finger
loops add comfort. Compact design stores easily in a vest or on a work
bench.

About The Cutting EdgeDr. Slick Scissor/Pliers tool pictured below is designed to not only
to grab and grip, but also to cut all manner of things that normal
scissors, knives or clipper tools can't handle. The business end of the
Scissor/Pliers is shown below (magnified). The jaws are part smooth and
part cross-hatched with texture, so that a variety of tasks can be
performed. One cutting edge of the powerful scissor is serrated to keep
slippery materials from sliding.

You will want to add a
Dr. Slick
Scissor/Pliers to your fly tying bench. as well as your fishing vest
and boat bag. As demonstrated here by Josh Linn, this tool greatly aids
the tying of
Scandinavian Tube Flies. After the fly is tied on the tube, cut the
tube off on an extreme angle. Be sure to leave more than 1/2" of tubing
exposed. The serrated jaw holds and slices through the tubing easily.
Push the pointed end of the tube through a cone-head from the rear. The
tapered end of the tube will protrude from the front of the cone. Grab it
with the smooth front part of the jaws and pull cone-head up the tube
until it stops against the other material. Trim the tubing straight off
about 1/16" from the front of the cone and heat the tubing with a flame
until it swells, thus preventing the cone-head from coming off. Flies
tied in this manner are very effective for steelhead and salmon.

This is the multi-tool designed for the majority of fly
fishing vests. It grasps all manner of small objects, cuts leader, cuts
yarn strike indicators, trims flies and hair bugs, cleans hook eyes,
fastens and removes split shots and even tightens screws. This is an
effective hook remover, even for light saltwater and steelheading
applications. Jaws are smooth at front 1/2 and striated at rear 1/2. The
smooth points tends not to damage

small hooks, while serrated rear one-half of the jaw
holds larger hooks tenaciously.

Angling has been a bit slow on the local Willamette Valley
rivers such as the Sandy and Clackamas, due to water flows being about
half of the 10-year average. The fish are just beginning
to get here. Reel maker, Joe Saracione and I fished together Monday,
and Joe landed a small steelhead and I lost one. Joe has caught quite
a few steelhead, but always with a single-hand rod. Joe is getting used
to spey casting and borrowed some of my tackle to try. He is
pictured here with Sage's 7136-4 Z-AXIS rod. Joe is famous for
his American Classic Fly Reels, which are cherished collectors items.
The rumor is that Joe is working on a brand new American Classic S-handle
production reel. I'll bet one would look nice on my 7136-4.
(hint, hint).

The 7136-4 is winning over more anglers as a good
choice for "All Around" performance as a rod to be used under a wide variety
of conditions in both summer and winter. It has plenty of "juice" to
launch flies tied on 1 1/2" tube like we use on the west-side most of the
year. Designed to be the perfect summer-run rod that can see duty for big
Alaskan rainbows and TDF Sea Run Browns as well. Grande Rhonde, Deschutes,
Rogue, Umpqua rivers for swinging or nymphing, this is the ideal Oregon rod. Sink
Tip Use: 15’ 129 grain in type 3, 6 and 150 grain in type 8. T-14 in
9’, 11’ and 13’ lengths. Reel Match: Tibor Riptide, Ross Momentum 6,
Sage 3500D, it also balances well with a Ross ULA 5.